BOC Elections: Four New Faces Pull Off Stunning Election Victories

FOUR new faces have pulled off stunning election victories to become new members of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) board for the 2013/2017 period.

The debutant winning candidates in the elections, held on Tuesday (JUNE 11) at the Sofitel Hotel in Zallaq, include Bahrain Football Association president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

Shaikh Ali who won an impressive number of votes of 20, joined the new board along with Dr Khalid Al Alawi (gymnastics), Abdulhakim Al Shino (athletics) and non-Olympic sports federation member Isa Abdulrahim (sport for all).

The elections, which followed the General Assembly meeting, saw 18 candidates vying for only eight slots for the new electoral cycle of the board.

The remaining four candidates winners regained their seats in the BOC for the second successive term. They include Bahrain Table Tennis Association president Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, who won the majority of 25 votes.

Other winners were Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa (weightlifting & bodybuilding, 19 votes), Adel Al Assomi (basketball, 18) and Ali Isa Isaaqi (handball, 12).

Another highlight of the day was Bahrain Volleyball Association president Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa being among the non-winning candidates, thus failing to maintain his seat with just nine votes claimed.

Candidates losing their election bids also included Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa (tennis, 11 votes), Shaikh Ebrahim bin Salman Al Khalifa (fencing, 7), Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Ahmed Al Khalifa (cycling, 8), Dawood Al Manea (shooting, 10), Faisal Swar (swimming, 11), Hisham Al Khan (badminton & squash, 6), Abdulla Al Dossary (bowling, 7), Mohammed Nami (sports for disabled, 5) and Adel Al Khaldi (golf, 2).

Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa was already voted for a second consecutive presidency period of the BOC, while Asian Football Confederation president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa was elected VIP committee member.

Early on, BOC acting general secretary Abdulrahman Askar and the general assembly had a meeting where they reviewed a number of significant topics, before announcing the resignation of the board.

Some of the discussed subjects were the amendments of the International Olympic Committee and BOC statute and visions of the committee strategy, as well as approving the administrative and financial reports of the previous board meeting.

The outgoing board also had talks on suggestions and recommendations that will be submitted to the board of directors, as well as approving the general assembly meeting report, and reviewing the financial report of the BOC in 2012.

A committee made of representatives of five sports associations – football, handball, cycling, table tennis and basketball – were formed to discuss a number of suggestions and submit necessary recommendations for the new board.